


Mending the Bonds

by Tabbyluna



Series: Magcase Real World AU [1]
Category: Skylanders (Video Games)
Genre: Aged Down Characters, Alternate Universe - Real World, Boom Bloom is a furry, Boom Bloom is also a deviantart creator, F/M, Family, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:29:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24786982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tabbyluna/pseuds/Tabbyluna
Summary: This family's a little broken, but in a pinch, good inventors can be decent repairmen.
Relationships: Dr. Krankcase/Mags (Skylanders)
Series: Magcase Real World AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1921933
Kudos: 6





	Mending the Bonds

**Author's Note:**

> This was intended to be another birthday gift. I've been writing a lot of birthday presents lately, but it's been fun. I hope it's to their liking.

Ever since Mags moved in, Boom Bloom became a recluse in her own house, living almost entirely in her bedroom. It wasn’t like she went out much before, but in the past, according to her father and brothers, she at least occasionally came out to watch TV or grab a snack. But after the move-in, she only ever came out to either go to school, use the bathroom, or eat a meal. And since she was a fast eater, after years of conditioning from distant relatives, she would clear her plate in fifteen minutes, drop it off in the dishwasher, then run back to her room.

Needless to say, Mags was fairly concerned. And sadly it wasn’t like she could talk to Boom Bloom’s father about what she could do to possibly help her. He had gotten arrested when she was so young, and since he had only been released shortly after she turned thirteen, he had missed out on a pretty significant part of her childhood. She, in turn, had few memories of her dad. And after a childhood as unstable and turbulent as hers, being passed around from relative to relative, moving in and out of towns, constantly uprooting herself to live with strangers (and four older brothers, who ranged from ‘fairly decent’ to ‘not great at all’), it was understandable why she didn’t trust others easily.

This girl was about to begin high school after the summer. It was going to be a difficult time for anyone. But after the sort of childhood she had, in addition to having to adjust to living with her ex-convict Dad, well she could understand why she would have constructed walls. Why she would be so hesitant to accept her into her life.

In particular, she recalled the night she and Krankcase revealed to his kids that they were dating. His sons weren’t particularly enthusiastic about it, but Boom Bloom stormed out of the room after the announcement. And she can’t remember if she had ever seen the girl with any sort of expression on her face other than a scowl. She had erected walls in her childhood, and tearing them down, helping her to truly connect with her family, that was going to be a process.

But… it needed to be done. 

High school was not easy. And Mags feared for her. She feared for all his kids, to be honest. Almost as much, no, just as much as Krankcase worried and constantly thought of them. He was the man she loved, and they were his children, how could she not? 

But admittedly, her brothers were all a little easier to connect with. Krankenstein and Fisticuffs had the most memories around their father, and reconnecting with them had been the easiest out of them all. Though Krankcase was surprised at how neither of them had decided to go to college. “You guys always seemed like smart kids,” he said.

“Krankenstein was never smart. Why would Dad ever think that?” Chuckled Krankenstein. He worked at a furniture moving company. Mags had been trying to encourage him to learn a trade, something that he was interested in. He did have that model airplane hobby as a good starting point. Collecting kits and then putting them together. So at least a little bit of Krankcase’s inventive nature was passed down to him.

He told her that he would give it some thought. Eventually, he narrowed down potential trades he could learn to ‘woodworking’ and ‘welding’. 

“That’s a good start,” she complimented. And Krankcase thought so too, though he did state that he preferred woodworking.

“Still, at the end of the day, they’re both fine vocations. And it’s up to you to decide which one you wish to pursue.”

Fisticuffs on the other hand, lacked that sort of motivation. He worked as a cashier in a mall for some store she never heard of. Mags never really went to malls. The clothes were always so expensive there. But he worked for some sort of branded store which was quite popular with the kids nowadays. Despite that, he barely earned more than minimum wage. Furthermore, he did not have any other plans with his life.

“Eh, I tried school for years and I didn’t like it. College just sounds like more school, and I don’t think I’d be particularly interested in that.” Since then, Mags tried presenting more options to him, but so far nothing managed to stick. Still, he was fairly friendly with her. They talked, and once she moved in he did start asking her (and his Dad) more questions about what higher education was like, so that was a good start. He was making positive progress with his life.

Boom Bloom’s two other brothers, Scrap Shooter and Shield Shredder, also took to Mags relatively better than she did. Though Scrap Shooter was still quite a troublemaker in school. The first time she heard Krankcase talk at length about him, it was the day he got caught selling confiscated cell phones back to kids at his school. It was a heck of a day for the family once the vice-principal caught on to what he had been doing, and Krankcase spent the evening venting to her about it over the phone.

“Honestly, it’s things like this that make me regret prison the most. I… I hope the kids would have turned out better than me, but I couldn’t even be with them to help push them in the right direction.” It was a confession from the heart, and Mags stayed up till two hearing him talk. From then on, she occasionally got calls from Krankcase whenever Scrap Shooter got into trouble. He would vent, she would listen. It would go on for as long as necessary.

But once she moved in, she began getting to know Scrap Shooter better as a person. He was set to graduate in about a year, and she had to admit, he was a bright kid. Very acute business sense, good head for numbers. Would make a fine businessman. Although once when she asked him if he had any plans in the future, he merely took out the fake toy cigar he always kept around him out of his mouth, and told her in a phony gangster voice “Sure do. Someday when I leave this damned establishment, I’m gonna either be a conman, or sell moonshine to the masses.”

They started talking a lot more often after that. Mostly her and Krankcase trying to convince him to reconsider other career choices. He was pretty dedicated to the whole ‘gangster’ act, though she had no idea why. Perhaps it was just a quirk developed after a series of weird and unusual life experiences. She had those, Krankcase had those, and she was certain that all his kids had those. Scrap Shooter’s was merely more visible.

Shield Shredder was the most well-adjusted of his siblings. He had friends in the art club at school, he carved wooden animals in his free time, and he wanted to become an artist after he graduates. By far, he was the kid she was least worried about in terms of what he might do. And she and Krankcase wouldn’t have had to worry about him much at all, but the kid was unfortunately also getting bullied in school.

His bullies were popular girls. And his principal did not seem to care enough to properly punish them. Krankcase said something about how the girls’ parents were good friends with the principal, which might have contributed to how lenient their punishments all were. 

Shield Shredder told her that he kind of blamed his siblings for it too. “The principal thinks all of us in this family are delinquents. And since those girls all came from good families and always make sure to come off as good students to teachers, I think he thinks I deserve the things they do to me.”

The girls were clever, in that they always made sure their pranks could be misconstrued for accidents. Whether it was ‘accidentally’ ruining an art piece he spent hours making, or tripping him when he was walking in the hallways or carrying a tray full of food. Snakey and smart, with authority on their side. Truly, the worst types of bullies. But Krankcase and Mags tried to do what they could, to the best of both of their combined abilities. Trying to make his home life a comfortable place where he could escape from his bullies.

And then there was Boom Bloom…

The hardest of them all to bond with.

Her mother - her  _ biological _ mother - cut all ties with the family after her husband went to prison. She must have decided that she did not want anything to do with the entire family after that, because after a quiet divorce, no one ever heard a thing from her ever again. The only person to ever visit Krankcase in jail was Mags, and she only found out he was arrested by accident. When she came over to the prison he was in to test new alarms, and she spotted him among the inmates. Apparently the kids got nothing from her either. Not a letter, or an email. Not even a phone call. 

“She promised us that she would at least try to communicate with us too,” admitted Shield Shredder. “It hit all of us pretty hard, but since Bloom was the youngest, and she didn’t really get what was going on and why everything was happening, I think she was hit the hardest.”

And so Mags knew she needed to take it slow. Let her accept her in her own time. She had given similar advice to Krankcase back when he called her, worried about her refusal to talk to him. “Give her time,” she had said, “she just needs a little time to adjust. All this is actually going to be really new to her. So right now, all you need to do is to try and talk to her, provide her with food and shelter, and make her comfortable around you.”

But though she knew she needed to follow her own advice, she couldn’t help but feel impatient, now that she was the one that needed to be accepted by a family. It was so easy to give advice. To help someone who asked for her to share her wisdom. But following her own advice, admittedly, was hard. So she might have done a few things to… push the process forward a little faster.

She used to come home early just so that she could prepare a dessert specially for her. (Dinner was usually something easy prepared in the crockpot.) Sure, most of the desserts she made hadn’t been the most elaborate. After a day of work, she didn’t have the most energy, and so prepackaged cookie dough was often her main ingredient of choice. But she did hope Boom Bloom would appreciate the gesture. And well, she did eat her cookies. But often without a ‘please’ or a ‘thank you’. Often with a glare on her face. As if she knew Mags was trying to get in her good graces, but there was no way she was going to let her. 

“It’s hard following my own advice Kranky,” she confessed to him one evening. Arms folded behind her head, propped up against a soft pillow, in an old t-shirt and shorts for pyjamas. Krankcase beside her, removing his prosthetics for the night. “I guess letting things play out naturally is pretty hard.” After walking a mile in his shoes, it was hard to believe how confident she was when she gave that advice to him. What if she never accepted either of them as family? She was only a child, and she needed someone to rely on.

He made a noise of understanding. “And now I wonder if I should offer her a ride to school again tomorrow.” He had been offering her a ride to school every day for months. But every time, even when it was snowing or raining outside, she would always say that she would rather walk. It was discouraging, but he kept at it. Mostly thanks to Mags’ encouragement.

She sighed. “Give it another shot. Couldn’t hurt to keep trying.”

Krankcase nodded, pulling up the blanket to cover himself. “You know, Father’s Day is in a week.”

“Is it?” Lately, things had been busy at work, and since her own parents died several years ago, she had no real need to keep track of holidays like Father’s Day or Mother's Day in a while. 

He nodded. “First Father’s Day I’ll be celebrating with my family in a while. Last time, the boys all got together to buy me a tie, and my ex… she made me breakfast in bed. Boom Bloom drew a card.”

Mags hummed, listening intently. The way he talked about his old life was honestly heartbreaking. A weird mixture of nostalgia and regret. “Well, how would you like to spend Father’s Day this year?” She asked, putting her hand between them.

“Honestly? I’m not sure.” He reached out to grip her hand, a comforting action for both of them. “All I know is that I want all of us together doing something.”

She turned to look him in the face. “Well then, how about dinner out? We could all go out to some restaurant come Sunday, and that can be our celebration.” She used to take her folks out for dinner during special occasions, since they were never big on parties or celebrations. It was fun when she was little, and convenient when she grew older.

“I guess that could work,” he said, “but where should we eat out? I heard that my favourite restaurant closed down, and well, I haven’t really had the chance to try out any new places, obviously.” He chuckled, in a sardonic sort of way. “Any ideas?”

“Well, I have one.” She leaned her head onto his shoulder, and whispered, “why don’t we ask Boom Bloom to pick a place?”

*****

She had just gotten home from school, and as usual, she walked up to her room to escape the stress of the outside world. Away from her annoying, unconventional family, from the teachers out to make her life miserable, from the students who hated her and excluded her from their social groups. In her room, she was free to be herself. Sure, she still needed to do her homework. Something she learned over the years was that as long as she got good grades, adults tended to keep off your back. Though Mags and Krankcase seemed to care about her life beyond her grades. Still, it didn’t hurt to do well. And she kind of liked achieving and doing well in school. Almost as much as she liked drawing.

That day, she had plans of finishing another drawing. Aurora from school first introduced her to some websites where people could post all their art, and that was when she started posting her fanart. Mostly Naruto and Ninjago at first, but eventually she wanted to do art for her friends. So she started drawing their original characters. From there, she started making her own. Including a fursona, thanks to a little convincing from Aurora.

And so she headed into her room, her head full of plans on what she wanted to draw. She wanted to update her fursona (a ferruginous pygmy owl). Draw a few more Ninjago comic ideas she had. Get started on some birthday presents for a few of her friends. It had been a stressful day at school, and she figured that she could probably draft out a few drawings before she got started on homework.

What better place to draft out her drawings than in the comfort of her room? Little cactus plants on the shelves, bed unmade, walls and carpet her favourite colour (forest green), her poster of Naruto next to her closet, floor littered with dropped papers and colour pencils. Most importantly, a door with a lock to keep annoying brothers, awful ex-convict fathers, and replacement mothers out.

She huddled up in her green swivel chair, a pillow wedged between her folded legs and her body, and her head bent over a sketchbook. Headphones were plugged into her ears to block out any sounds outside, and her hand was practically gliding across the page as she sketched and drew. That day, she just felt so _ inspired _ . She always felt the need to draw, but that day, the compulsion was particularly strong. 

So she kept drawing, and drawing. Until her playlist ended and she heard some tapping coming from the other side of her door.

Her first instinct was to ignore it. Choose a new album to listen to and continue with drawing. Maybe even get started on homework. It was a Friday, and while she could easily just do it over the weekend, she liked having a couple days to herself where she didn’t need to do anything. 

But then the knocking persisted. “Boom Bloom?” Called a voice from the other side. Mags’ voice. 

That was strange. Mags usually tried to keep her distance. Neither Mags nor Krankcase really knocked on her door that often, and out of the two, Krankcase did it more often. The blogs about parenting said that they were trying to ‘give her space’ and that it was a way to make sure that they were not too ‘overbearing’. Which she didn’t mind, she preferred that to them hanging over her and trying to force and probe their way into her life. That was a common thing that some step-parents did, based on the blogs. And she pitied those kids.

She suspected it had to be important if Mags was the one knocking on the door. So she pulled her headphones off, balanced them on a small pile of papers on her desk, and walked over to the door. Opening it a little, just enough so that she couldn’t see what a mess the whole place was (because no doubt, she would insist that she clean her room if she saw). 

And when she opened the door, she saw both Krankcase and Mags standing there. Hands holding each other’s hand. 

It must be really important if the two of them wanted to talk to her.

“What?” she asked. Probably coming off as more irritable than she was feeling at the moment. It was a bad habit. She knew she could be very polite if she really tried. Sometimes, she did feel kind of guilty about that, but most of the time, she tried not to think too hard about such things.

“Hey, uh, Boom Bloom. So, we would like to discuss something with you,” said Krankcase. He was clearly a little more nervous talking to her than Mags was.

“Yes. Father’s Day will be this Sunday. So, the both of us want to ask you a little something before then.”

“Why would you want to talk to me about Father’s Day?” She wasn’t even planning on getting him a gift. As far as she was concerned, her father was dead, and her mother was on an eternal vacation to a place better than here. 

“Well,” began Mags, “we’re planning on taking the whole family out to eat to celebrate. And since… and we would like to have you choose the place.”

“Yeah. Since my old favourite restaurant closed down, and I don’t know what new places are good. We were hoping that maybe you could suggest something. Someplace nice where we can all go out to eat together as a family. So, what do you say?”

What does she say? Honestly, she didn’t want to say anything. And so, she closed the door, looking away so she didn’t see their faces as it shut with a ‘click’. She did not care for bonding with her family. What good memories did she have to motivate her? What reason did she have to trust they wouldn’t remain a broken family? Having a reliable family wasn’t something she really cared to have. After all, she was a whole teenager. She was certain she was old enough to look out for herself and make her own decisions. Someday, after she graduated high school, she planned on leaving town alone. Sure, there would be no one to look out for her, but that meant she didn’t have to look out for anyone either.

If she screwed up, that was on her. But she wouldn’t screw up. She was pretty sure she could survive, just like how she survived practically by herself all these years. Her relatives may have provided her with a roof over her head, food, clothes, but they never gave her a home. Once she could get all those things herself, she was pretty sure she could just live alone.

She wanted to turn back to her desk and just busy herself with her work again. But… 

Sigh. 

Boom Bloom knew they were still behind the door. They were talking. In hushed, quick voices, and she couldn’t quite make out what exactly they were saying. But they sounded… disappointed. Like they really hoped that she would take it well. And then that little voice at the back of her head returned. A sort of nagging, the school counsellor called it her conscience, which was telling her to open the door up again and give them a real answer.

And she usually followed what that voice said. Mainly because she kind of wanted to believe she was a good kid. But this was her  _ ex-convict father _ . And the woman he wanted to bring in to replace her  _ mother _ . Why should she open the door for them? Why should she listen to her conscience this time?

She turned around, and opened the door again. “Vegetarian food.” 

Mags and Krankcase stopped their conversation, and turned to look at her. 

“I… know this really good vegetarian food place. My best friend’s uncle took us there last time I slept over at her house. And I think… maybe we could go there?” She suggested. 

There was an awkward pause, as if none of them knew what else to say. Then Mags spoke up. “Well, that’s great! Where is this place, what’s it called?”

Boom Bloom gave them the address. Then the two of them smiled at her. Was that… pride? Were they proud of her? Boom Bloom didn’t quite know. “Thank you, Boom Bloom,” said Mags.

“Pick something nice to wear for Sunday,” said Krankcase. 

And then they walked off without another word. Probably back to finishing dinner, based on the smell of stew spreading around the house. So Boom Bloom shut the door. She walked back to the desk, back to her half-finished drawings. As she sat down and picked her pencil up again, a strange feeling began to fill her. A tangle of different thoughts and emotions. Some good, some bad. But despite it all, she would, strangely enough, say it all averaged out to a net positive. It felt… good. Just to talk and get along with them.

She wondered what that said about her, and what that said about Mags, and what that said about Krankcase.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah. Really wanted to put in this disclaimer: the author does not support cringe culture. Boom Bloom is having fun with her OCs in this story. Do not make fun of her or any other high-schooler making furry or ninja or Skylanders content, no matter how 'cringy'.
> 
> End disclaimer.


End file.
